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Radičová rejects compromise bailout proposal advanced by SaS

Prime Minister Iveta Radičová disagrees with a proposal made by the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party that would condition ratification of changes in the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) with rejecting the establishment of the permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Radičová said that the SaS proposal is impossible to accept and implement, the Sme daily reported.

Prime Minister Iveta Radičová disagrees with a proposal made by the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party that would condition ratification of changes in the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) with rejecting the establishment of the permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Radičová said that the SaS proposal is impossible to accept and implement, the Sme daily reported.

“I cannot see the reason why a sovereign country cannot reject it [the ESM],” said Richard Sulík, the chairman of SaS, as quoted by Sme, adding that the European Union has agreed that it needs only 95 percent of the capital to create the permanent bailout fund.

“The permanent mechanism, the ESM, is far more dangerous and more expensive, while it would oblige Slovakia to pay more than €600 million in cash,” Sulík stated, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

Radičová also disagrees with the second condition proposed by SaS that would give each party in the parliament veto power. Sulík stated he does not understand her rejection of this since originally it was the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), Radičová’s party, which introduced the right of veto for loans to individual indebted countries.

Other coalition parties also see problems with SaS’ proposal. Most-Híd party questioned the conditioning of establishment of the ESM saying that the leaders of the eurozone had already agreed on the conditions and the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) criticised the proposal to give parliamentary parties the right of veto. The chair of the KDH’s caucus, Pavol Hrušovský, said such a principle “is in the contrast to the principle of respecting parliamentary democracy”, Sme wrote.

The coalition is to discuss the bailout mechanisms during a Coalition Council meeting on Monday, October 10. SaS also stated that it wants to ask the prime minister why she presented her rejection via the media, TASR reported.